Hotel 'Creepers' Can Turn Holiday Into Catastrophe

May 30, 1986|By Gina Thomas of The Sentinel Staff

KISSIMMEE — They dress in shorts and Mickey Mouse T-shirts and hang around hotel pools, indistinguishable from the tourists they victimize.

They usually work in groups of two or three and set lofty goals for themselves: as much as $1,000 a day. Most of the time their ambitions are realized. Left in their wake are ruined vacations and bad memories of Osceola County.

In their own jargon, they are known as ''creepers.'' To Osceola sheriff's investigators, they are the slick, professional hotel thieves who sometimes travel cross-country, hitting various guest houses. Lately it seems a favored spot for them is Osceola County, a top tourist destination with more than 16,000 rooms in hotels on West U.S. Highway 192, known as the ''hotel strip.'' As part of a creeper crackdown, the sheriff's department last month created a three-member burglary squad. With hotels and motels as their focus, the detectives have worked undercover as everything from bellhops to groundskeepers.

Hotel burglaries always have occurred, but the situation has grown worse in the past 18 months. Osceola sheriff's Lt. Larry Taggett said guests are reporting more thefts and ''we needed to do something before things get out of hand.''

Since the squad went into business April 17, six theft cases have been resolved, three people have been arrested -- all employees doing ''inside jobs'' -- and investigators have developed information on a few creepers working the area.

Cooperation from motel managers has been ''excellent,'' said sheriff's Sgt. Jim Key, who worked undercover as a maintenance man at the Days Lodge. He said that although those arrested so far have been motel employees, the percentage of inside jobs is small compared with those done by creepers.

Holiday Inn manager Moe Adldoost, who has had undercover police at his hotel, gives a high rating to the burglary squad's effectiveness. He said investigators also suggested he change door locks on the rooms to provide a better security system, and in so doing, he has dramatically cut back on break-ins.

''Every day we had one or two break-ins,'' Adldoost said. ''During the past two or three months, we haven't had any.''

More police protection that aggressively seeks to ferret out creepers and bad employees -- coupled with enhanced security measures -- is a definite boon, said Pat Yelvington, president of the Central Florida Hotel/Motel Association. Yelvington, who manages the Days Inn West, said the safes she had installed in each room have curbed theft.

Each year, authorities receive more and more calls to the West U.S. 192 area. In 1975, only 79 crimes were reported; in May 1985 there were 468 calls to the area. They include everything from robberies to disputes.

This year, Taggett said the sheriff's department has been receiving about 400 to 600 calls a month to the area. While no breakdown is available, the belief is that many of the calls involve burglaries and thefts.

Burglaries can be difficult crimes to crack; professionals leave little evidence. Hotel burglaries are even tougher to solve because vistors often return home, unwilling or unable to come back to Osceola County to press charges if an arrest is made. Hours, even days can pass before a guest realizes he has been robbed.

''You're dealing with a population that's here today and gone tomorrow,'' Taggett said.

Sheriff's investigators learned about creepers from a former creeper. The man, whom Taggett said was in his late 40s, spent time in jail where he became religious, Taggett said. The man spent several weeks teaching investigators about the motel thieves. He does not want to be identified or interviewed.

Taggett said the training helped: Investigators know that creepers work in small groups. One will keep an eye on guests, often at the hotel pool, while the other creeper robs the room.

They know where to look in motel rooms -- under trash can liners or behind headboards and beneath beds where guests tape their money. And they like to pick on people far from home.

''The theory is, the farther away from home, the more money they brought,'' Taggett said.

Creepers go for cash, jewelry and cameras, as well as traveler's checks and credit cards -- anything they can use or sell. They will work an area, then perhaps travel across country switching their motel keys -- called ''screws'' -- with other creepers.